How Language Shapes our World

Nicholas C. Rossis

From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books by MandMX.com

Noam Chomsky is famous for his suggestion that language shapes the way we think. Put very simply, we have no concept of anything we can’t describe with words. He also believes there is a universal grammar that all humans instinctively adhere to.

Although I personally think he overstates his case, there’s no doubt in my mind that language does influence our perception of the world. Perhaps this is because I’m a non-native speaker, so I can see subtly changes in me when I switch from Greek to English. Friends have even claimed that my very voice sounds different. As Sue Vincent put it in her comment, there is a subtle and unspoken shading in words. A native speaker has an emotional attachment to words that never makes it into the dictionary and which can convey far more than just a grammatically correct combination of words alone can ever do.

Anyway…

View original post 1,562 more words

Neophyte

As entitled, I am a ‘new kid on the block’ venturing into the excitement of Linguistics at the University of the West of England.

Since commencing my second year, I have become more and more grateful to have landed myself in something I find so interesting and motivating. Beginning my undergraduate degree with little experience in Linguistics proved to be an enticing new podium, widening my reading beyond David Crystal who was my first source of inspiration.

This serves as a platform to bank my own small discussions,  sparked through first-hand experiences and wider reading.